The New York-based group said in a statement on Tuesday that an appeals court had upheld a death sentence against Sabri Boğday, a Turkish national who worked in Jeddah for 11 years as a barber, convicted of insulting God during an argument with a Saudi client and an Egyptian neighbor.The sentence can be still reversed by a higher legal body. "The charges, conviction and sentence against Boğday show the dangers of criminalizing speech on the grounds that it's offensive," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the group's Middle East director, in the statement.
The group also called for the dismissal of a case against Raif Badawi, a Saudi man who used his Web site to criticize the religious police who impose strict Islamic rules in Saudi Arabia. Badawi, who faces a possible five-year prison sentence and a heavy fine, fled Saudi Arabia two weeks ago after receiving threats, the rights group said.
Saudi Arabia imposes a strict version of Islamic law but has no written penal code, leaving judges with wide discretionary powers in sentencing. Sentences of execution -- carried out by public beheading -- are issued for murder, rape, drug trafficking and armed robbery, and sometimes for charges such as witchcraft and blasphemy.
King Abdullah has promised wide-ranging judicial reforms, but observers say they could take years to implement.
Last month, the London-based Amnesty International launched an urgent action campaign for Boğday, who they said was victimized by "an unfair trial." Amnesty International then highlighted that Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offenses, including offenses with no lethal consequences, and does so following trials which invariably fall short of the most basic international standards.
Benzer Haberler 
Diplomacy
